Bristol Rovers created chances galore at Gigg Lane on Saturday afternoon as they finally got their league season up and running with a commanding 3-2 victory against Bury.

Don’t read too much into that scoreline, Bury’s two goals both came in stoppage time as Rovers were 3-0 up and cruising, and if Rovers were more clinical in front of goal the game could have been over as a contest at half time.

But three goals and a solid defensive display for 90 minutes was the perfect way to atone for the errors of the calamitous defeat to Peterborough last week.

Bristol Rovers fans celebrate at Gigg Lane (Image: Matt McNulty/JMP)

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Rovers can now head into the cup match against Fulham on Tuesday full of optimism. Their attacking play at Gigg Lane was back to its best with Rovers being direct and quick in attack without having to resort to long balls.

Darrell Clarke’s side are at their best when they attack with speed and purpose but avoid playing hopeful diagonal balls. That’s exactly what was on show in the North West.

Clarke retained the front three from the Peterborough defeat and all three justified their selections with a much improved performance. Billy Bodin was back to his creative best to terrorise Bury left back Greg Leigh before once again showing his knack for showing up in the right place at the right time to bag two goals to kill the match off.

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Tom Nichols once again ran the channels well and was a willing runner in coming deep for the ball to kickstart Rovers’ attacks. He had plenty of sights on goal, and may rue missing a few of the chances he carved out but thankfully they didn’t prove costly.

Ellis Harrison bounced back from a poor afternoon against Peterborough to produce a performance full of energy and endeavour. The forward challenged hard in the air and won more than his fair share of aerial duels to help Rovers push out at the back and bring the midfielders in to the game.

Rovers had little to do in defence as Bury showed little attacking intent, with former Premier League striker Jermaine Beckford particularly poor. The Gas back four adequately handled everything thrown at them for 90 minutes only to switch off in injury time to concede two goals and take the gloss off the result.

Darrell Clarke yells from the sidelines in the win over Bury (Image: JMP 2017)

But make no mistakes Rovers were deserved winners and they sent the more than 500 travelling Gasheads home happy with both the result and the performance.

With Adam Smith ruled out due to a hand injury there was a chance for summer recruit Sam Slocombe to make his Rovers debut in goal, and as with the team as a whole, the two goals conceded do not reflect on his performance against the Shakers.

Despite Rovers’ first half dominance, Slocombe actually produced the best save of the opening 45 minutes as he got down smartly to his right hand side to pull off a good reaction save with the scores still level.

Bristol Rovers fans celebrate at full time at Gigg Lane

The other beneficiary of another player’s misfortune was Joe Partington. The full-back getting a rare start as Dan Leadbitter was ruled out with a thigh injury. The former Bournemouth defender had a pretty tough first 30 minutes as Bury full back Greg Leigh consistently found space in behind on the Shakers left flank. But Partington grew into the match and became a real attacking threat as the game wore on. That attacking intent was on full display as he whipped in a perfect cross from deep on the right hand side for Bodin’s first goal.

This was the Rovers display we expected to see given their shrewd summer signings and strong end to last season.